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2002

This year’s competition was one of the many events held at OUC’s open house and research expo, a 2 day event at North Kelowna Campus. More than 100 would-be pasta engineers participated in individual and team competitions at this year's event, including two students from the Netherlands who won a trip to compete and visiting students from Japan, here on a study tour.

Paddy Milford and Sjaak Bloemberg, both industrial design students from the Technical University of Delft, won the opportunity to compete at OUC after winning a similar competition in Delft by building a bridge with a span of 65 centimetres that supported a mass of 57 kilograms. Milford and Bloemberg also paired up with two OUC students to compete in the team building category.

"We are excited about competing in what certainly will be a challenging competition," said Bloemberg. "We are proud to represent our university and it would be great to take back a prize. But, we are also excited about visiting Canada for the first time and experiencing a different part of the world."

Thirty-two students from Japan's Ritsumeikan University, who are visiting OUC on a five-week study tour, also participated.

This isn't the first year the contest has had an international flavour. A student from Delft took away first prize in the post-secondary individual competition and students from Ritsumeikan placed second and third in the post-secondary team competition last year.

The contest has received inquiries from potential participants in the U.S., Australia and Europe and has garnered media attention from the U.S. and the U.K. The contest has also drawn participants from other parts of B.C. and Canada year after year.

"One of the reasons this event is so popular and sees participants coming back again and again is because it combines drama, ingenuity, and creativity with physics and engineering principles for a whole lot of fun," says Peter Murray, a Physics professor at OUC and a long-time organizer of the event.

Student Competition Results

Students entered pre-built bridges which could support a two-kilogram mass for five minutes.

First Place: Sjaak Bloemberg, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands

Second Place: Paddy Milford, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands

Contest sponsors included the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC, Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of B.C., the OUC Faculty Association, and the OUC Students’ Association.